Electric cars have higher insurance premium than gas!

[michael]

I was surprised to discover that State Farm, at least, charges considerably higher insurance premiums for the electric than for regular focus. They claim that the reason is that collisions which might be repairable in a regular car can damage the battery system and there is greater risk that they need to total a car rather than repairing it.

I'm not complaining...would rather not be stuck with a patched up car...but I was a little surprised to discover the "green" car costs more to insure.

 

[Jasper7821]

My insurance went down a lot when I got the Focus.
I was paying $650 every six months for a 2012 328i with a MSRP of $43k and I'm paying $325 for the Focus with a MSRP of $41,500.
And that's with 300k coverages and $100 deductable.
I have Progressive.

 

[dcast1079]

Farmers 325 six months same coverage as Jasper recently changed to Ameriprise costco. 240 for six months same coverage.

 

[EVA]

I'm looking at a Ford Focus Titanium, 2012 versus a FFE 2013 on the same policy. The electric is $116 per six months more. The Titanium stickered for like $28,000 and the FFE $40,000 (in round numbers). To me, given the sticker difference, that is reasonable. I'm not sure I would say there is an upcharge for electric.

I don't include my actual rates because everybody's situation is different. Unless you have the exact same circumstances, it doesn't make sense to look at rates. Shoot, you could have the exact same record, discounts, and family situation as me, but live 10 miles away and your rate will be different.

 

[az erik]

Yep my FFE cost me about $250 more a year than my Lexus IS350... with Geico. I called asked them what's up and then said forget it cancel the policy I can go anywhere cheaper. All of a sudden my insurance (that I'd been paying for 6 years @ $2100 a year for BOTH Lexus) dropped to $1450 a year. Didn't matter I had already set up with e-surance for $1100 a year for the FFE and RX400h.

They tried to give me the run around on how much more expensive and "fragile" it was.

 

[WattsUp]

My insurance, the California branch of AAA, basically quoted me the normal ICE Focus rates, it seemed. Not very expensive. The agent I was speaking to knew full-well it was the electric version I was insuring (he said, "hey cool").

 

[TonySpice]

I'm in NJ and faced a $400 increase on my policy due to adding FFE - got a quote from GEICO that results in just $0 increase (normally I get no difference when premium shopping. Still haven't switched yet and am trying to compare the two premiums (its complex in NJ, I'm sure theres a catch somewhere) but it looks like GEICO in NJ is FFE-friendly.

 

[davideos]

My insurance, the California branch of AAA, basically quoted me the normal ICE Focus rates, it seemed. Not very expensive. The agent I was speaking to knew full-well it was the electric version I was insuring (he said, "hey cool").

I remember seeing somewhere that AAA give a 5% discount for EVs. I asked for it when I added it to my policy, but new cars are always more it seems than the old one it replaces. I'm no expert, but when insurance companies price policies, it is more an exercise in statistics than it is the value of the car.

 

[guruuno]

I referenced this a few months ago in another post....the Insurance Companies use a "symbol rating" system, a guide that has pre-determined statistics from history of claims, etc., that affect the cost to insure.
See: http://www.insure.com/car-insurance/car-insurance-comparison.html
Also: http://www.iso.com/faq/ISO-FAQ/ISO-s-Symbols-for-Individual-Makes-and-Models-of-Cars.html
Finally, here are PDF references to all cars/symbol ratings: https://www.google.com/search?q=SYMBOL+AND+IDENTIFICATION+MANUAL

 

[Hailee]

higher auto insurance rates. I researched insurance premiums for gas and electric versions of the same cars and found that car insurance for electric vehicles costs more in all cases, I think these cars’ higher values and repair costs are to blame. I'm still looking in this forum for car insurance quotes for electric car and find the best deals and didnt find anything interesting, can you help ?